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Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

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Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> AppCloud—pre-installed on Samsung’s A and M series smartphones. Samsung’s A and M series smartphones are their cheapest models so their buyers probably cannot afford better phones. I don’t know of any other brands selling in the region with similarly priced models that have better privacy practices than Samsung either—they’re all the same at that price point I’m afraid.

No there are lots of Chinese phones with minimal bloatware, like the nothing phone cmf 1, sure they only come with 2 years of updates but what you gonna do at that price... If you're in the middle east, I'm sure you'd rather be spied on by China. Do you imagine that shit? You're a nuclear scientist, working on a program for generating electricity, your country is open to being audited and complies with the restrictio…

Even if Nothing phones are made in china, it's a UK company.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#442
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suspect a strong link between mass surveillance [...] and the very recent targeting of the senior Iranian nuclear scientist and military officers at their homes in Iran. We all like to imagine this super cool clandestine hacking operation using peoples mobile phones to secretly track people who visit nuclear facilities back to their homes. The much more logical explanation is someone approached a low level employ…

Israel, like any other state, must be using a variety of methods including good old "human intelligence" so it's not either-or. In addition, saying that > someone approached a low level employee at the MEAF who turned over a USB stick with the governments org charts and payroll records in exchange for their kids getting a full ride to a prestigious foreign university is an oversimplification on multiple levels: 1. Lo…

> 1. Low-level employees typically don't have access to sensitive information.

Snowden was a contract Sharepoint admin. He was on the absolute bottom of the org chart.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#443

I suspect a strong link between mass surveillance (by corporations for advertising or by states for intelligence purposes) and the very recent targeting of the senior Iranian nuclear scientist and military officers at their homes in Iran. Wherever you are from or whatever side of the conflict you are on, I think we can all agree that it’s never been easier to infer so much about a person from “semi-public” sources su…

What always shocks me is how much negligence is shown by politicians and cyber inteligence wrt to standard mobiles.

Anyone who runs a country, especially senior politicians, just shouldn't have a standard mobile.

It should be a built from the ground up phone by your own countries government services. Running GrapheneOS or something.

And you shouldn't have a second phone to have your affairs either.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You people don’t know or have forgotten what a god damn wasteland computers were 20 years ago. Computers were utopia 20 years ago as compared to today - especially when it comes to privacy, security and user-control.

20 years ago (2003-2006), Welchia, Blaster, Code Red... Windows boxes that weren't patched were infected within about 35 ± 5 seconds when connected to lightly-filtered Internet when it was still a capitalized proper noun. Ask me how I know and used JScript and psexec to mass remote into LAN machines to try to stop some of the madness and downtime.

Oh boy, tell me about it. The first real job I ever had, the first thing I did as a "network engineer" was say "Wow, I've never seen Windows XP machines on the public Internet before. Uh, is it just me or are these all really slow? Like a lot slower than they should be? And what's all this in Task Manager?" 2004 was a different time.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#445

I found the app on my Samsung phone but I also found something interesting. Go to Settings->Apps and find the app in the list. Click "Configure in AppCloud" and then click "Personal Data". A form shows up where you can request access to the data or request a deletion of the data. I just requested access to my data, received an email confirmation where I had to click a link. I am curious to see what they will send me…

> Click "Configure in AppCloud" Not found on this Samsung phone.

There was mention of GDPR so maybe this only exists for EU phones.

---

I just received the data inside an email. It is just a HTML file with the headers "Data Privacy Report" and "Aura Up Privacy Report" but other than that it is empty. Obviously this is all just bullshit to pretend to comply with GDPR.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#446
post #309
post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's wishful thinking. Flying drones aren't the only threat, or the main threat, and there isn't such a thing as "counter-UAS tech", only counter-yesterday's-UAS tech. Radio jamming was "counter-UAS tech" until the mass production of fiber-optic-controlled FPV drones starting five months ago, for example. You can still find vendors marketing it as such. 30 milligrams of high explosive is enough to open your daughte…

> 30 milligrams of high explosive is enough to open your daughter's skull, or, more relevantly, your commanding officer's daughter's skull, and there are a thousand ways to deliver it While we are talking about flying drones, we are not far off from Slaughterbots becoming reality.[0] Why bother with surgical assassinations if you can blanket entire regions with with swarms of autonomous seek-and-destroy explosives? A…

> After all, as last two years have so amply demonstrated: people are fine with genocide.

And open war crimes like intentionally killing civilians (TV broadcasters in Iran for example, or Gaza en mass)

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#447
post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>Brother you cannot be serious with this racist take >There are many ethnicities in China, people of all genetic backgrounds. It is the culture that is the problem, not the race. This just seems like nitpicking to me. Colloquially most people would classify discrimination based on country of origin, or "culture" (whatever that means) as racism, even if it doesn't meet the technical definition. For instance Trump's t…

It's entirely fair game to criticism or even discriminate based on culture, because culture is composed of actions. If people act in such a way that you do not like, that's a valid reason not to like them. Now, we do still need to respect cultural differences where it makes sense and consider the historical context behind cultural differences, such as colonialism.

Nazis used to measure skull dimensions to discriminate on race. How do you measure "culture" of an individual? Just apply a stereotype based on the country of origin?

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. While there is no such thing as a chauffeurs union or an FSD alliance, if we say that they exist maybe they do. Similarly, if you say something is “FUD” then maybe it becomes that. I genuinely do not understand the last two sentences. Are you pro- or anti- “telling people that salmonella exists” ? Is saying “salmonella exists and can be a problem” FUD or what? Do you think salmonella isn’t real

Yes, the final two were tongue in cheek but follow the same pattern and thus serve to illustrate the point being made. You don't seem to be engaging in good faith. > Is saying “salmonella exists and can be a problem” FUD or what? Obviously that depends on context. If a bunch of restaurants form a PAC and start lobbying with that message to restrict the sale of animal products at the grocery store then it is. If the F…

> You don't seem to be engaging in good faith.

You posted actual nonsense and then declined to say if you are for or against telling people that salmonella is real.

Anyway, in good faith

> Obviously that depends on context.

This makes sense. Context matters, and it is important to imagine some when it is missing. For example, in this exchange you saw a stranger on the internet post “rooting your phone can void your warranty and pose a security risk” and, in a vacuum of any relevant information, pictured a world where they work at Samsung in their Awful Spyware Division and started posting from that premise.

Or just saying it at all FUDs up the vibe and ruins the context?

The point you are making is either that it is important to invent context if you feel FUD, or that the wrong context for certain correct information is “the context wherein it is shared”.

Can you clarify which is it?

Either we agree that rooting your phone can void your warranty and pose a security risk and you just sort of imagine me working for a terrible company,

or

We both agree that rooting your phone can void your warranty and pose a security risk but you and I are the only people that should know that. Any context where this fact that we agree about could be shared is made inappropriate by its inclusion.

Like are we dealing with hallucinations or are we dealing with Untouchable Facts

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was situation in Tibet really good before China came? I've recently learned that movie "7 years in Tibet" is full of lies, starting with the fact that the main character was hardcore Nazi follower in real life. There are a lot of things that we don't know because media are not interested in enlightening people. They are interested in pushing the current agenda. E.g. Tibet was a poor feudal state with slavery, but you…

> Was situation in Tibet really good before China came? Well I imagine there was a lot less persecution by the Chinese government at that time. > media are not interested in enlightening people You're right, the media in China are mostly or exclusively mouthpieces for the state.

> Well I imagine there was a lot less persecution by the Chinese government at that time.

Is feudal society with slavery and human sacrifices better? How can we really be sure about more or less persecution by Chinese government if we don't live in Tibet, do not know Tibetan and Chinese, and all we know about those "persecutions" are somebody else's translated words?

> You're right, the media in China are mostly or exclusively mouthpieces for the state.

You're right, the media are mostly or exclusively mouthpieces for the state. FTFY. There are not exceptions anywhere in the world.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Do I have to?

Using adb directly runs it under your user, which will probably be unable to access the necessary USB device. Starting the server manually under a privileged user is the easiest way to circumvent those restrictions if you don't want to fiddle with udev rules, which is the recommended solution, but is more work.

Thank you! Will keep it in mind! I have higher hopes now.
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